Why you do what you do in the classroom... and how to tell others about it.

Reviewed by: Dr. J. Masty

Is there a way to evaluate the quality of teaching that a professor does
that goes beyond a cursory review of numeric averages generated from evaluation
forms filled out by students? We are all familiar with the concept of a portfolio
developed by designers, photographers, architects, and artists: it is a collection
of their best works presented for review. Development of a teaching portfolio
is one way for faculty to provide a structured means of documentation regarding
teaching accomplishment, goals, philosophies and improvement over a period
of time. Seldin defines the teaching portfolio as a "factual description of
a professor?s teaching strengths and accomplishments. It includes documents
and materials which collectively suggest the scope and quality of a professor?s
teaching performance. It is to teaching what lists of publications, grants,
and honors are to research and scholarship."

Preparation of a teaching portfolio serves two broad purposes: 1) it provides
a mechanism that leads to pedagogic improvement driven by self assessment and
reflection; 2) it provides thorough documentation of teaching for tenure and
promotion review, post-tenure merit review, and award consideration. The content
of a teaching portfolio reflects the individuality of the professor based on
his academic assignments and key components that may be required by the department,
the college and the University. Any individualized portfolio is organized by
information provided by the professor, information provided by others, and
examples that document teaching performance and student learning. Information
provided by the first two sources is usually put into narrative format with
samples of teaching and student learning provided as a referenced appendix
to the narrative.

"Just as the student needs feedback to correct errors, the professors need
factual and philosophical data to improve teaching performance." Construction
of the portfolio forces you to think about what you teach and how you do it.
Information the individual professor places in the portfolio includes, but
is not limited to the following: course data; a statement of the individual?s
teaching philosophy, strategies, goals and methodologies; examples of course
syllabi with objectives and methodologies; innovations and an assessment of
their effectiveness; participation in workshops and conferences designed to
sharpen instructional skills; and a description of steps taken to improve teaching
resulting from reflective self assessment. Preparation of the portfolio provides
the stimulus and structure for reflective thinking about teaching performance
and effectiveness. It may lead to the individual rethinking teaching activities
and strategies, discovering what worked or didn?t work in the classroom,
and to describe new strategies for areas that need to be improved.

The complete portfolio will also include material submitted by others who
have had an opportunity to evaluate the individual?s teaching and its
potential for enhancing student learning. Items in this category may include
statements by peer evaluators, student evaluations (any salesman or provider
of goods wants to know how satisfied the customer is with his product and how
it can be improved), recognition of teaching excellence as evidenced by teaching
awards, and documentation of efforts by specialists detailing efforts geared
toward personal improvement of pedagogical skills. Seldin believes one of the
most important benefits to be realized from portfolio development is working
with a mentor. The mentor can be a faculty colleague in your discipline, across
department lines, or an educational specialist. Collaboration with another
individual who shares an interest in teaching enhancement brings insight and
objectivity to teaching which is normally a highly subjective, singular and
relatively isolated activity; "...collaboratively designed portfolios are an
antidote to isolation and a way to promote collegial exchange focused on teaching
and learning." Collaboration with the mentor provides the opportunity to combine
one?s self assessment of their teaching activities with the objectivity
of an interested peer evaluator. "Collaboration offers significant opportunities
for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning by engaging professors
in open discourse on pedagogical substance, making teaching a more public and
peer-reviewed activity."

Finally, the teaching portfolio includes substantive examples that represent
products of teaching and student learning in an appendix that supports the
narrative portion of the document. These examples, of course, are individualized
to the individual?s discipline. Such items may include pretest scores
compared with post learning scores; essays or research manuscripts and how
they were edited; identification of students who have excelled at higher levels
of advanced course work; and identification of the postgraduate student who
reflects the professor's influence on a successful career choice.

The teaching portfolio provides a means for an individual to catalog their
teaching efforts, to reflect upon pedagogic strategies and methodologies, and
to share these assessments with like minded individuals in an effort to improve
the educational product delivered to students. In addition to becoming a vehicle
for self improvement, the portfolio?s presentation of the individual?s
teaching philosophy and detailed documentation "provides evaluators with hard-to-ignore
information on what they do in the classroom and why they do it. And by so
doing, it avoids looking at teaching performance as a derivative of student
ratings."